Schoharie County High Point Trip Report
Huntersfield Mtn
Date: July 2000
Author: David Galvin
I climbed Huntersfield Mountain via the Long Path from the Greene County side. It was a nice walk
through woods and meadows augmented by thousands of ripening blackberries. I'll repeat Dan Case's
directions below, with some corrections.
Take NY Rt. 23 to Greene County Rt. 4 and turn north onto Rt. 4. At the first fork go left onto Dent Road
and continue past the intersection with GC Rt. 10 to where Dent Road becomes Sant Tompkins Road. At
the next fork, bear left. This becomes Marvin-Rion Road after a while. At the end of this road turn right
onto Huntersfield Road. If you go left you will be on Macumber Road, so don't do this. Dan mentions an
Albert Slater Road, but I never saw it. Anyway, you should have turned right onto Huntersfield Road and
soon the pavement will end. Continue up the now unpaved Huntersfield Road to where there is a wooden
sign for the Huntersfield State Forest and a road forking to the right. Stop the car!
The trail you want is on your left, blazed with aqua paint rectangles rather frequently. It runs alongside a
creek and goes upstream. Dan's directions say this but also say to go to the trail on the right, which is
wrong. I got there after some confusion. In checking a couple of road maps of the area, I found that both
Dan and I are in disagreement with the maps, which is not at all unusual in the Catskills. Just look for
Huntersfield Road and take it north and you will eventually get there, I guess.
Anyway, the trail winds along the creek for a while and then coincides for a long way with a wood road
that climbs through a large area planted with pines some time ago. The road is lined with blackberry
bushes, goldenrod, and annoying asters of many colors. The blackberries are ripe and tasty. The road has
frequent puddles that are occupied by frogs. Along the muddy edges of the puddles are the tracks of
raccoon, deer, and at least one young bear. This makes sense, as large dangerous omnivores such as bears
and people are attracted to ripe blackberries.
Eventually the trail leaves the road and climbs a ridge to the summit. On the way up there is a good
viewpoint at about 2800', on the right of the trail. In a few areas the trail is overgrown with berry
brambles, but these are easily negotiated. After about two miles and 900' elevation gain, the trail reaches
the summit. There is a USC&GS benchmark at the summit. A yellow spur trail circles the summit and
brings you to two cut overlooks, one with a log bench and one with a pleasant new lean-to. This lean-to
comes complete with stairs, a porch, and a picnic table! As the day was hazy, I couldn't make out any of
the mountains well, but Dan elaborates on these in his report. I didn't see any water source near the
summit, either, so water would have to be packed in for overnight camping. The climb is gentle to
moderate, though, so this should not be much of a problem.
The ascent took me fifty minutes and the descent about forty. If you would like to knock about five
minutes and 100' of climbing off of the route, the road that the trail follows intersects the road you came
in about a quarter mile past the Huntersfield State Forest sign. It will be on your left. There's a metal gate
across it, but more than one ATV has gone around this gate. If you continue on the Huntersfield Road,
the map predicts that you will cross the col and enter Conesville in Schoharie County. I did not attempt
this with my car, as the road is rather steep, muddy, and rough.